The Christmas season brings so many FUN teaching activities. My little Karis loves polar bears so I quick looked up some polar bear reading units on Teachers Pay Teachers and found this one.

I love it because I'm really into great pictures and this one has amazing pictures! I printed up the pages and put them into sheet protectors, then connected them with a ring so that we could work with them. If you're using them in class, I would forgo the sheet protectors and just print and staple.

Citing evidence is a HUGE deal in classrooms right now. Even though we homeschool and are not in a "classroom", I feel that this skill is such an important part of learning so I try and incorporate it into our readings anytime I can.

So when my little first grader began answering questions about the polar bear "book" that she just read, it was a perfect time for me to teach her how to cite evidence from the text.

I had her read the questions and told her that she was not allowed to just circle the answers (even if she knew it) without showing me where in the text it came from .

We sing, " Prove it, show me, underline the answer."

In this case, we used sticky notes because I wanted to display the book and not have writing in it.

I had my sweet Karis "underline" the sentence with her sticky note and write the number of the problem that the sentence answered. I showed her how to do it with the first 2 problems, and then she was off on her own

She loved learning about polar bears and was ecstatic to get 100% on her reading comprehension assessment of her polar bear book. Plus, it was such a fun activity (she loves to use sticky notes!) that taught her a very important skill that we will build upon as the years go on.

It's that time of year again when we are hustling and bustling to get the decorating done, presents purchased and wrapped, going to holiday parties, cooking dinners, visiting families...whew!

I sure am tired.

One thing that I have enjoyed more and more over the years is shopping online. Yes, Amazon Prime is my best friend. I can shop in the comfort of my own home and get it delivered in just a short couple of days.

Which got me thinking of all the people who deliver my packages.

I can't even imagine how hard the UPS, USPS, and FedEx workers are working this season! I know that they work long hours and I am SO thankful for them because they make my holiday shopping so much easier.

To show my gratitude, I created a little treat basket at my door for my sweet delivery friends. I got this idea from some Instagram friends and so I decided to spread the love.

I also have something for my postal carrier. I hear if you just put something in the mailbox labeled "For the Postal Carrier" that they will get it.

We taped the side and bottom to make a little pocket to put our sweet treats in.

I've added these signs as a FREEBIE so that you can spread the love, too. Our USPS, FedEx, and UPS workers work looong hours to make sure that we get what we ordered in a timely manner and seriously, they make ME look good (since I'm such a procrastinator). I am forever grateful to them.